Registered User

I have a disconcerting issue that I would like brought to your immediate attention:

I currently manage the property on behalf of my condo association. I am one of six owner occupants and our 6-unit residential dwelling is located on Bowers Street. In early November my condo association received our quarterly water/sewer bill from Suez and we were extremely startled to see our usage and fees exponentially high compared to the previous quarters. I called Suez to see if there was a mistake and was advised the current charges were based on an actual meter reading, not an estimated charge. Moreover Suez was not able to provide answers as to why our usage vastly increased or explain how our building incurred such a high charge for one quarter when compared to our annual aggregate. Suez only offered the following advice: ‘there could be a broken pipe or, potentially, a continuously flowing toilet causing the increased usage.’ All occupants confirmed their toilets were in fact operating properly nor did we notice a water breach or leak in any unit, the basement was dry and there were no visible leaks on or around the property.

I was not given any further options but to pay the bill and consequently unable to identify the cause of the usage uptick. Specifically we average approximately ~160 units per quarter [approximately $1,500 quarterly] compared to nearly 430 units in parallel to our last quarter [$4,200 for 3 months]. I asked if I could make 3 consecutive monthly payments of $1,400 because at that time our Association did not have enough funds in our HOA account to cover the full $4,200 charge and the customer service representative reluctantly agreed, or so I thought. I followed through and immediately made the $1,400 payment. Unfortunately ~7 business days later I received a letter back from Suez who not only returned the check but also placed our account into a tax lien auction against the HOA if the amount was not paid in full by December 19th. It’s also worth noting that our account was in a “current status”, i.e., there was no outstanding late charges or previous balance due from the prior quarter.

In attempting to remediate the unknown cause of our extremely high bill I randomly asked about the possibility of the meter being compromised. Suez agreed to switch the current meter with a new one, which they did last Friday, December 8th. Initially the very cordial and knowledgeable technician said we could have a major leak in the building that's contributing to the spike in usage and proceeded to replace the water meter. Immediately after installing the new meter, he realized we do NOT have a leak and the old meter was in fact defective.

I have a copy of his remit after he finished his work indicating the meter was faulty. The technician more or less confirmed the meter caused the erroneous consumption report, not us. As soon as he installed the new meter, the water dial stopped calibrating, which as he explained is a direct indication the old meter was faulty. We are currently waiting on the results from Suez.
As I understand the process Suez is going to run diagnostics on the old meter in the ensuing week and issue a report on the findings.
Here's what I don't understand: back in July 2017, at the behest of my NJ state licensed plumber I contacted Suez to see about having our meter replaced. Due to a separate ongoing issue in our building we had our plumber conduct an independent water pressure test and after his preliminary test he recommended we contact Suez to initiate replacement of the water meter as a first step in abating our ongoing problem.

Here is my original request on July 25th:

Hello, I’d like to talk to a customer service representative to see about having the water meter in my residential building replaced. The current meter is approximately 15 years old and no longer operating to capacity. Our building has been experiencing significant water pressure issues, including severe decrease and total lack of flow throughout all units in the building for extended periods of time. This occurs frequently throughout the day and evening and we have numerous situations where water flow literally ceases with 20-30 minute time spans before resuming. A recent water pressure test was performed by a licensed plumber and upon testing was instructed by him to contact you (Suez) to initiate replacement of the water meter as a first step in fixing. Who can I call or contact to start this process ?
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Here is Suez's response on July 25th:
Good Afternoon,
We are in receipt of your email dated 7/25/17 regarding your account. The water at this location is not old and does not need to be replaced at this time. It was only installed in 2009. They don’t replaced for at least 15 – 20 years and even then only if we send you a letter. If you have issues in regards to water pressure, it would not be caused by the meter. The meter is just a register for the water consumption. Low water pressure is caused by the internal plumbing at the location.

The only thing I can advise is that you contact our CSB department to see if there is any work in the area that could cause this issue. If there isn’t, then it is most definitely an issue with the property. They can be reached at 201-487-0011.

Please feel free to let me know if you have any additional questions or if I can be of any further assistance.
Sincerely,
Chris
Customer Service Representative
SUEZ North America
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What I find disturbing about this entire situation, is that Suez and Jersey City did NOT hesitate one moment to seize the opportunity to place our account into a tax lien auction, which they were fully committed to following through with, had I not intervened and pushed for a meter replacement despite being told no from an earlier request. Moreover our account was current, we did not owe any previous charges and the billing cycle and auction date are succinctly aligned within a 90-day timeframe. I could understand this action if an account is more than 6 months late, but only 90 days ? Really ?!

We weren’t given any opportunity to make payments or even given a chance to defend ourselves by proving the meter was in fact, faulty. Most alarming is the rapid pace at which Jersey City moved in order to ensure we were on course to have our account scheduled for the auction on December 19th. No benefit of the doubt, no instructions on options, no chance to explain ourselves or even remotely consider that Suez’s billing charges were wrong. The entire situation is nothing short of an egregious attempt by the city to hold us financially accountable for charges that we were wrongfully accused of.

Who’s going to rescind the utility tax lien that we’re now have auctioned on December 19th ??
Why couldn’t Suez replace the meter when I initially asked ?!

This entire situation is both alarming and disturbing to say the least!

Someone is literally dumping their cat's litter box on the sidewalk on Bowers Street [believe west side of street?]. It's absolutely disgusting and the two homes where the litter was dumped have not bothered to clean it up. I've walked through it and have witnessed other people unaware of what the're walking through, including a woman pushing her child in the stroller. There are clumps of cat feces and urine/clay clumps all over the sidewalk in front of 277/279 houses and further down where a new house is being built, used cat litter has been dumped there as well. I mistakenly walked through this disgusting mess earlier this week -it was dark and I was unaware of what it was. Can you please see if the residents can clean this, it's so foul to see this every day on my way to/from the bus stop. BTW, this is no accident, someone is intentionally dumping this and making sure they do it right in the middle of the sidewalk. Demented!

I'd like to know whether it would be possible to have a speed bump installed on Bowers Street, between Summit and JFK BLVD. There are A LOT of cars that speed along my street and there have been several accidents at Milton Ave and Bowers St intersection over the years, mostly due to excessive speeding. It would be highly beneficial to have a speed bump installed as a protective measure for the safety of the residents living on this street who witness this on a daily basis as well as hear the cars speeding up and down the street at all hours of the day and night.